When police entered the office of Nitschmann Middle School Principal John Acerra to arrest him for allegedly selling crystal methamphetamine, they found the 50-year-old educator naked and watching gay pornography with sex toys nearby, sources say.

Police also found a glass drug pipe and $200 in marked money on the desk, just minutes after an informant wearing a wire arranged to buy meth from Acerra about 6 p.m. Tuesday, officials said.

Bethlehem schools Superintendent Joseph Lewis said law enforcement officials called him shortly after the arrest, but no one told him Acerra was naked or watching pornography.

"This is all bizarre," Lewis said Wednesday afternoon after a news conference in his office at the Bethlehem Area School District.

Lewis also said later he never heard concerns about Acerra regarding drugs or pornography.

"I've never received a complaint," Lewis said. "I've been superintendent for five years and I've never gotten an e-mail, phone call or note."

He said police told him they do not believe Acerra sold drugs to children. An internal investigation will be conducted, Lewis said.

Acerra, a 28-year educator and principal since 2000, is in Lehigh County Prison under $200,000 bail. He is charged with possession with intent to deliver, manufacture or create methamphetamine, delivery of a controlled or counterfeit substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.

When police received a tip last week that Acerra, of 832 Chestnut St., Allentown, was selling meth, they knew he was the Nitschmann principal and worked fast to set up a sting at the west Bethlehem school.

"We were very concerned and that's why we acted as quickly as we did," Lehigh County District Attorney James Martin said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon at the Bethlehem Police Department. "We felt like we had to take him down as quickly as possible."

Normally, police may stretch out a drug investigation for months in the hope of nabbing a main drug supplier, Martin said.

"Because this was a school principal, we had definite concerns," he said.

Acerra is charged with having meth in his office Tuesday evening, but Martin would not comment on the possibility of any other deals from Acerra's school office.

Outside the school Wednesday morning, parents expressed amazement and sadness.

"I'm just shocked about this happening in a school involving an administrator," said Mike Roman, a parent of twin girls in sixth grade. "It's sad."

Doug Brock, father of a sixth-grade girl, Tyler, did not cast blame at the district, saying people make mistakes all the time.

"He could have been the janitor," Brock said. "He could have been anybody."

Lewis said that when police contacted him about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, he called an emergency meeting of his Cabinet and installed Nitschmann Assistant Principal Jackie Santanasto as acting principal.

Lewis said he met with Nitschmann's faculty Wednesday morning and brought in extra counselors and psychologists to the school of about 950 students. Letters have been mailed to parents of Nitschmann students informing them of the charges against Acerra, and Lewis' staff plans to hold a meeting for parents next week.

"What we are saying to children is in essence sometimes people use bad judgment," Lewis said. "Sometimes people who we put faith in may let us down at various levels."

Seated next to Lewis at his 2 p.m. news conference, Santanasto said the staff's goal was to make the day as normal as possible, which included holding a scheduled assembly with a guest author.

Santanasto said teachers were told to discuss the charges during homeroom and to direct students and co-workers to counselors if they showed signs of needing help.

"Today went very well," she said. "We have a professional teaching staff."

When school ended, shock, sadness, anger and confusion still lingered outside Nitschmann as students poured out.

"He was a nice man; he would do whatever to help kids," one girl started to say before being shooed off by school officials who refused to give their names.

"Move along," said one woman to the students. "There will be no comments today."

While she waited for her 13-year-old granddaughter, Judy Landis of Bethlehem planned to make the day's news a teachable moment.

"You see what happened to your principal?" she said, rehearsing the speech she planned to give her granddaughter. "You just can't go taking drugs."

According to the affidavit of probable cause, police received a tip that Acerra was selling and using crystal meth. Last Thursday, the Allentown office of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration set up surveillance of Acerra.

Later that evening, agents watched and recorded as Acerra allegedly sold meth to a man in the parking lot of Kmart on S. Fourth Street in Allentown. Police arrested the man, who then cooperated with the investigation. He told officers he had been to Acerra's home 10 to 15 times in the past three months, and had seen meth or drug paraphernalia inside each time, the affidavit states.

Police arranged for the informant to buy $200 worth of meth from Acerra on Saturday. The deal happened, under police surveillance, in the parking lot of CVS at 314 W. Emmaus Ave., Allentown.

Police then set up the sting in Acerra's office. At the office, Acerra told the informant, who was wearing a wire, that he didn't have enough meth to complete the buy and that he would meet the informant later that night, according to Dennis Mihalopoulos, a DEA agent.

The Associated Press and Morning Call reporter Veronica Torrejón contributed to this story.

CHAIN OF EVENTS

Drug buys that led to the arrest Tuesday of Nitschmann Middle School Principal John Acerra, according to police:

LAST THURSDAY

Police watched Acerra meet a customer and sell a small amount of crystal meth at Kmart at 1502 S. Fourth St., Allentown.

SATURDAY

Police arranged for the customer to act as an informant and buy $200 worth of crystal meth from Acerra in the CVS lot at 314 W. Emmaus Ave., Allentown.

TUESDAY

Police gave the informant $200, outfitted him with a listening device and had him meet with Acerra at Nitschmann. When the informant left Acerra's office, police entered and found meth and the money on Acerra's desk. They arrested him.

Source: Drug Enforcement Administration

CRYSTAL METH

What is it? Crystal methamphetamine is a colorless, odorless form of methamphetamine, a powerful synthetic stimulant. It looks like small fragments of glass and can be smoked or injected.

What does it do? It produces an intense high lasting up to 12 hours, but it's highly addictive and can cause psychotic behavior or even brain damage.

Who uses it? Most users are white, in their 30s, have a high school education or higher and are employed.

Where is it found? Long a scourge in the western United States, crystal meth has moved eastward. In December, two men in Wind Gap were charged with distributing crystal meth locally.